Struggle Of The Wolf
by JediLlama
Summary: After the events of Journey's End, Rose Tyler was left in the alternate universe with a human Doctor duplicate. But when she finds that the wolf within her doesn't allow her to age, she is once again left without the forever the Doctor promised her. (Doctor/Rose reunion fic)
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Struggle of The Wolf**

**Author: JediLlama**

**Rating: T**

**Description: After the events of Journey's End, Rose Tyler was left in the alternate universe with a human Doctor duplicate. But when she finds that the wolf in her doesn't allow her to age, she is once again left without the forever the Doctor promised her.**

* * *

Chapter One:

"What have we got Tosh?"

Rose Tyler stormed into the Torchwood institute, making her way behind the young Asian woman on the computer.

"Three Sontarans storming around Big Ben, a Slitheen in the parliament building, and it looks like someone down in that little pub by Gwen's place has somehow acquired a Racnoss egg." She informed her, typing away.

"Right, okay, I'll have John and his team take the Sontarans; you, me, and Owen will take the Slitheen, and Ianto!" She called over her shoulder to the man currently playing with a Judoon's scanner. He looked up abruptly, dropping the device. Rose rolled her eyes. "Take Gwen and go talk to the guy in the pub." Ianto nodded and stood up, adjusting his suit. He left the room, Gwen following quickly behind him.

"Do you think it'll be okay to just send the two of them? I don't know that Ianto really knows how to-" Toshiko began, but was swiftly cut off by Rose.

"He's with Gwen, they'll be fine." She said.

"Yeah," Owen scoffed, coming up behind the two women. "Gwen knows everything!" Rose ignored him, choosing instead to go pick up her weapons belt from a shelf in the corner while Tosh quickly printed off the quickest route to parliament.

"All right everyone," she said. "Let's go."

* * *

"Wibbley wobbly timey wimey, remember?" The Doctor muttered to himself in the control room of the TARDIS. "Don't let a silly Ood get you down!" The TARDIS gave a warning hum, trying to remind the Doctor to be cautious. "Yeah yeah, I know." He said, waving her off with one of his hands as he started fiddling with things on the console. The TARDIS responded with a disapproving humph as the Doctor set them to travel to 1960's Hollywood. If he was going to die, might as well make the most out of the time he had left. And Rassilon, did '60s actors know how to have a good time.

* * *

"So basically, we have absolutely no idea what this Slitheen wants, it just happens to be raiding through the parliament building in its natural form?" Rose questioned from the passenger seat of Owen's Torchwood issued black jeep. She looked up into the rear view mirror at Tosh who just shrugged.

"I suppose so... I couldn't really get a fix on what it was doing. You know how people are, they see an alien and immediately react as negatively as is possible." She said, exasperated.

Rose blinked and sat still a moment before a small smile began to form on her face. She released a quiet giggle causing both Owen and Tosh to look at her questioningly.

"Sorry," she said swallowing her laughter. "You just sounded a lot like the Doctor there." She smiled again causing her teammates to look at her sympathetically.

"Oh, don't look at me like that! I have John now, he's all I'll ever need."

Tosh opened her mouth to say something else, but was quickly cut off by Owen.

"We're just about there," he said unenthusiastically. "I can practically smell the chaos."

"That made no sense," Rose stated as they jeep pulled up in front of the grand building and she hopped out. "Slitheens in the parliament building," she muttered to herself under her breath. "Deja vu much?"

Three and a half hours later, Rose and her team had returned to Torchwood headquarters and were now cleaning the Raxicalicaphaliportian off their bodies. The group laughed together as they relived the highlights of their day. As Owen was just beginning to tease Rose over a comical fall she endured, Gwen and Ianto walked into the room looking exhausted.

"Rough mission?" Tosh inquired with a raised eyebrow. Gwen scoffed before replying.

"Just some sketchy guy with a smuggled egg huh? Right. Good thought. The git pulls a flipping Cyberman arm out of his jacket and starts firing at us! We managed to get the egg and bring it back to HQ, but the man got away. Luckily, we acquired some genetic material and his fingerprints." The brunette said exasperatedly causing the rest of the team to let out a laugh.

"Well, feel free to go home early." Rose said, hanging her jacket and weapons back on their place on the wall. "That goes for all of you, go home and get some rest." Everyone smiled gratefully before turning to leave. Rose made her way over to her desk in the hopes of sorting out some paperwork before she too retired for the day. Upon sitting down however, she noticed that Owen was lingering precariously in the doorway.

"Is there something the matter Owen?" Rose asked. The man paused momentarily before taking a calming breath and approaching his team leader. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a small folder and placed it on the desk before him, sliding it towards Rose. She took it curiously and opened it revealing a picture of herself and many sheets of medical records. "What is this?" She inquired, quirking a brow.

"It's some medical records I've been collecting over the past couple years." He explained, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "It's just, you've been working here for four years and you, well... You haven't changed at all."

"What?" Rose asked, now very confused. Owen sighed and continued.

"I've been collecting your medical records and taking some DNA samples. I also observed your healing progress after you sustained any injury in the field. There's been no change Rose, none at all. Your body isn't growing, it isn't changing. You haven't gained nor lost any weight and your healing rate is forty six percent faster than that of an average human." He added. Rose looked up from the medical records in her hands, confusion still evident in her eyes. "And from what I've observed of your DNA, well, what _was _DNA, it doesn't look a thing like regular human DNA anymore. There's an extra nucleonic strand interweaving with the original two. Plus you've got extra codons on all three strands, as well as a bunch more ribosomes and RNA. And it all looks a little bit... I don't really know how to explain it, but it just looks different; wrong."

"What are you saying?" She inquired sceptically. Owen sighed again before leaning down and placing a comforting hand on the young woman's shoulder.

"It means... It means you're not exactly human Rose. And, by the patterns on the records, it looks like you haven't been for a long time."

"How long exactly?" Rose asked, sounding calmer than she felt. The field medic quickly studied the chart before providing his team leader with an answer.

"It looks like you've been in some sort of temporal stasis the entire time you've been here, which explains why it doesn't look like you've been physically changing, plus an additional about... Uh... Two years? So I'd say you've been like this for the better part of five years, and that's at the least." Rose froze, memories of her life on the TARDIS racing through her head at an alarmingly fast rate. If Owen was doing the math right, that meant that somehow, during her time with the Doctor's ninth incarnation, she was exposed to something that caused all her bodily growth to come to a standstill. Quickly, she went over many of her adventures with her northern, leather clad Doctor. She remembered the Slitheens, her first Dalek, the living plastic, Cassandra the bitchy trampoline, Charles Dickens, World War One, her parent's wedding day, and Satellite Five. What in these adventures could have possibly caused her entire DNA structure to change? As she thought, her mind drifted back to a time on Satellite Five where her, Jack, and the Doctor were forced into playing deadly game shows and ended up fighting Dalek forces. But what could she have exposed herself to that was any different from the ordinary atmosphere of the TARDIS? As she thought about it, two words slowly made their way to the forefront of her mind.

_Bad Wolf_

Realization struck Rose like a lightning bolt. She let out a groan and leaned back in her large office chair. Of course, she thought. When I looked into the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the time vortex, some of the huon particles must have ended up staying in my body even after the Doctor took them in himself. They must have been rewiring my DNA the entire time without either of us noticing.

Owen watched as his friend buried her face in her hands. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he did know that it was bound to cause some major issues in her life. He went to ask her what could have been the cause, but decided at the last moment that it would probably be best not to. Instead, he picked up the file and looked over it again. Beside him, he heard Rose begin to mumble to what he first thought was herself, but later realized was the man who had ultimately caused the current situation.

"My God Doctor," she whispered, her voice shaky. "I promised you forever and I lost you. You promised me forever, and I lost you again! You told me to never say never ever, but I give up. I'll never ever be happy." After all the pain Rose had been through, after losing the Doctor on what her family now considered 'Doomsday', and having the Doctor leave her at Bad Wolf Bay, Rose had finally found comfort in John Smith, the Doctor's human clone. He had all the same memories as the Doctor and felt for her just as strongly as she had for the original Doctor. She had been given an out, a way that she could be with the man she loved and he could be with her until they both grew old and died together. But now, there was no way for Rose to happily go on with her life. There was no way to determine when she would die, or even _if_ she would die. She could end up spending all of John's life watching her lover grow old and wither away while she stayed young for who knows how long.

Is this how the Doctor felt? She asked herself, fighting back the tears that were springing to her eyes. Is this the reason why he wouldn't love me back? Because it would have been too painful?

She couldn't hold the tears anymore as she finally understood his pain. If this was permanent and she was like Jack, doomed to live forever and unable to die, she wouldn't know how to cope with it. She could never go back with the Doctor, as he was in another universe and cross-dimensional travel of that sort was impossible. But she also couldn't stay on this earth and watch as her John Smith aged and died. Either way, there was no possibility of her being happy.

"Owen, what do I do?" She whispered in fright, looking to the older field medic for help. "How long will I stay like this?" The man sighed and continued trifling through the file.

"I'm sorry Rose, I really am, but I don't think this is ever going to just go away. I don't know what happened, nor can I begin to explain how it possibly could have, but my best guess is that you're something else now, you won't be able to age, you'll have superior healing and intellectual skills, and who knows what else? Of course, you could still be killed I'm sure, maybe, if your body's accelerated growth didn't have a chance to kick in before death." Rose let out a humourless laugh.

"Oh, the similarity is uncanny!" She exclaimed, standing up and walking towards the window. She looked out at the slowly setting sun with determination. Owen looked at her as if she was crazy, and chances are that she was. He had heard her tales of the Doctor and she had never displayed any signs of insanity, but as he looked at her now, he could see her going into a state of hysteria.

"You look out Doctor!" She shouted viciously at the closed window. Owen flinched and took a step back. "To hell with your stupid worlds and your damn physics, because I'm gonna find you!"

"Rose?" Owen questioned carefully, slowly moving towards the blonde woman. "Are you okay?"

Suddenly, Rose whirled around to face him, a feral look in her eyes. Panicked, Owen stumbled back but the woman in front of him continued to advance towards him with her teeth bared. Her demeanour was that of a highly irritated wild animal and Owen backed away as quickly and cautiously as he could.

"Oh I'm fine Owen, I'm just _great_!" She growled menacingly, raising her arm towards his throat. "I'm-" she cut off with a gasp and froze where she stood, her eyes widening in panic. She quickly dropped her hand and scurried back behind her desk in order to create as much distance between her and her teammate as possible.

"Rose?"

Owen slowly crept toward the desk. As he reached it, he instinctually reached a hand out to the shaking woman in front of him.

"Stay back!" She exclaimed suddenly and Owen withdrew his arm. "I-I need you to call John. Call him and tell him to come here, and call my mum too. Please." She whispered. He made no move to leave, instead choosing to stand in place and watch Rose. "_Please_". She repeated. Finally, Owen nodded and went to call her family. Meanwhile, the assumed non-human woman wrapped her arms around herself and groaned.

"What's happening to me?" She whispered shakily, standing and approaching her window once again. She looked out dramatically as the first few stars began to come out. She stood reminiscing until Owen appeared at the door to inform her that her family was on their way to the Torchwood building. "Doctor." She prayed, her eyes scanning the rapidly darkening sky. "My Doctor, I need you."

* * *

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor woke up to find himself in the console room after having fallen asleep in the jump seat. He shuddered slightly as he stood up, remembering the dream he had just had. He was dying, about to regenerate, but just as he was about to give in to the regeneration energy and be born again, he heard a voice calling for him, pleading for his help. He had then refused to die, straining himself in order to get up and help the invisible woman that was calling to him. The effort of fighting off regeneration and staying conscious must have forced him to awake, as he had found himself alone in his ship. He shook his head and made his way to the kitchen for a cuppa, doing his best to dismiss the voice from his dream.

_"Doctor. My Doctor, I need you." _

* * *

**(A/N): Hello there :) This is my new (and first) Doctor Who story. If you're someone that is following me and noticed how I haven't updated any of my other fics in a long time... I will, at some point. But this story popped into my head, and I know the whole 'Rose not aging because of Bad Wolf and getting back to the Doctor' is super common and a little bit cliche, I really wanted to give it a shot! I'm doing my best to make it different from other fanfics I've read, and I hope you all enjoy it! My plan is to update a chapter every Sunday, but of course with diplomas and work and sports and all that, I may occasionally forget. But I can guarantee that this story will not be like my last ones- I will update as regularly as I can! Plus this time I have an amazing BETA reader! Thank you times 100 to Bailey :3 **

**Please drop a review if you feel inclined to criticize, praise, or just comment!**

**Thank you for reading! **

**~JediLlama**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

The next day, Rose Tyler woke up in her large bedroom in the Tyler Estate. Stretching, she got out of bed and went to pull one of John's sweatshirts over her head, but hesitated and withdrew her hand upon touching it. She sighed.

Today was going to be a hard day for her. After Owen's huge revelation to her the day before, Rose knew that she couldn't stay with the Doctor's duplicate any longer. As nice as it was without the complications of him running off at any sign of an alien invasion, she couldn't stay with him knowing that he would age while she didn't. There was nothing else she could do but break it off with him and reinstate her work on her cross dimensional technology. Staying with him wouldn't be fair to her, nor would it be fair to him.

The night before she had Owen call her family to pick her up from work as she didn't trust herself to drive home. In response to their concern, she simply told them that she had had a long day and was exhausted and just wanted the comfort of her family. Whether they believed her or not was an entirely different story. John had been especially concerned. She had meant to tell him everything last night, but couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, she had him hold her while she slept until it was time for him to return to his own apartment. After coming to this world, John had wanted to learn to live domestically on his own, which is why he lived three blocks away in a nice apartment rather than in the Tyler estate.

Pulling on her dressing gown instead of the sweatshirt, the young woman made her way down the stairs and into the estate's large kitchen where her mother was frying eggs.

"Mornin' Mum," Rose said sleepily, wiping her eyes. Jackie turned around and smiled at her daughter.

"Good mornin' sweetheart. Did ya sleep well?" She inquired to which Rose nodded, sitting down. Jackie placed a plate of breakfast down in front of her before grabbing one for herself and joining her daughter at the kitchen table. Just as she sat down, Pete walked into the room, briefcase in hand. He placed the case down by the table, dropping a kiss to Jackie's cheek and took a seat as well. Rose's heart twisted slightly at the affectionate exchange between her parents. Why couldn't her life be as simple as theirs was now? As glad as she was that her mother was successfully given a second chance at happiness, Rose couldn't help but feel bitter at the prospect that she wasn't able to experience the same joy. She deserved it didn't she? She'd only saved the earth (as well as other worlds) more times than she could count. Why was she unable to have a happy ending as well?

Rose shook herself out of her thoughts. Thinking negatively wasn't going to get her anywhere in finding a way back to the Doctor. If she was going to do that, she would have to keep an open and optimistic mind.

"Somethin' troubling you, love?" Pete asked, placing a hand on Rose's shoulder. "You've hardly touched your food. It's not like you to pass up jam and toast." She offered a reassuring smile and picked up her fork, prodding some eggs.

"I'm fine dad, no need to worry." She told him, stuffing a bite of scrambled egg into her mouth in an attempt to prove her point.

"Good," Jackie stated as she stood up to take both her and Pete's now empty plates to the sink. "Because you have to work today. Plus, you have your special dinner with John tonight that you can't miss." Rose groaned inwardly. She forgot about her 'special dinner' that John arranged the week before.

"I'd never miss it! Besides, I have some important stuff I need to talk to him about." Rose said as she stood up and moved to the garbage can, throwing away the majority of her breakfast.

"Like what?" Jackie inquired, walking back over from her previous place at the kitchen sink.

"I'll tell ya later," Rose promised with a small smile. "I gotta go get ready for work now." Jackie nodded, but watched skeptically as her daughter turned and made her way back up to her room. There was something going on with Rose, Jackie could feel it.

* * *

The day went by extremely slowly as Rose forced herself through pile after pile of paperwork. There was no alien activity in the London area today, so she was stuck performing the less exciting tasks of a Torchwood employee. It also didn't help that she was dreading her dinner with John. She was terrified that what she had to do was going to break his heart and drive him to hate her, which was the last thing she wanted. All Rose really needed right now was a friend to help her through this difficult time. If John was unwilling to be that friend, her heart might just break in two.

Finally, the workday was done and Rose packed up her things, organizing them back into their proper places. With a heavy breath, she picked up her purse and keys and headed down to the parkade where her Torchwood issued black jeep was parked.

When she got home, Rose immediately went up to her room in order to have some time to herself to gather her thoughts before her dinner with John. As she sat on her bed, she thought through all the different things she could possibly say that wouldn't result in John getting hurt. She hoped that because he shared all his memories with the original Doctor, he'd understand her predicament. She stormed through countless conversations in her head before finally deciding to just come straight out with the truth. There was no sense faking pleasantries or trying to soften the blow, it was going to hurt either way.

"Rose!" Jackie called up from the bottom of the stairs. "Rose, you'd best be gettin' ready! John'll be 'ere to pick you up any time now!" Rose looked at the clock and saw that lots of time had passed as she contemplated her situation. It was now quarter after five, and John was coming to pick her up at five thirty.

"Yeah, I'm almost ready mum!" She called back, moving quickly to her closet and taking out a blue dress she had bought on a shopping trip with John, the week before. Hurriedly, she got dressed and applied her makeup. Just as she was finishing the final touches of her mascara, she heard the doorbell ring and Jackie run to answer it. With a deep sigh and one final look in the mirror, Rose composed herself and left to greet the human Time Lord.

* * *

"I'm just concerned for her is all, an' you know her better than anyone else, so if anybody can get through to her an' find out what's wrong, it's you." Jackie Tyler was saying as Rose descended the steps. "An' as much as I agree with you and support ya, I just don't think it's the best time to-"

"Eh-hem," John cut in, clearing his throat as he noticed Rose coming towards them. He offered the young woman a small smile as Jackie spun around in surprise.

"Oh, Rose! You look lovely darling! Now you listen 'ere, got it? I want you to go an' have a great time tonight! Forget about work for a bit an' just relax!" The older Tyler said as she pushed her daughter towards John and then both of them out the door. Rose couldn't help but giggle at her mother's antics despite the gravity of her current situation.

The couple walked the short distance from the main doors to John's car in silence; Rose not wanting to face the evening, and John not wanting to upset his girlfriend by saying something stupid. The silence was broken only by the sound of John opening the passenger door of his TARDIS blue BMW- the Tylers insisted he get a nice car, especially since he wasn't staying at the mansion- and Rose's polite thank you as she climbed in.

The duration of the ride was filled with John deciding to try and talk to Rose while she had other ideas and provided him only with grunts or one word answers. Eventually, the Doctor's duplicate gave up and drove the rest of the way to the restaurant without a word.

"Rose," John started upon pulling up to the restaurant. Rose ignored him and continued looking distantly out the window, so he tried again with more force. "_Rose_." Reluctantly, she looked up and met his eyes. John sighed. "Rose, I know something's bothering you, you've been acting incredibly distant since we came and picked you up from work last night. I'm not saying that you have to tell me what's wrong, but at least try and have a good time tonight, yeah? Promise me you'll try to forget about it for right now." He grabbed her hand and Rose instinctively wrapped her fingers around his. She knew that she really couldn't put off telling John about her dilemma, but for the moment she allowed herself to pretend that it was just another stressful bit of work related business- nothing that couldn't be fixed within a few days. With a nod she allowed John to come around the vehicle and help her out of it, lacing their hands together again before leading her towards the doors.

Inside the restaurant, they were immediately greeted by the maître de, who was quick to escort them to a small secluded table towards the back of the room. The table itself was well decorated, sporting a few candles and a vase of red roses as a centerpiece.

John and Rose sat down, the latter grabbing for the menu as soon as her bottom touched the chair. She hid behind the plastic coated paper and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. As much as she tried to tell herself that it wasn't a big deal, and that she could tell John later, Rose knew that keeping everything she had learned a secret from John was probably the worst thing she could do. With a sigh, she placed her menu back on the table and looked up to meet John's eyes, which were already focused on her with concern.

"Okay, look," the blonde woman said as she began massaging her temples. John looked at her expectantly but she was cut off as the waitress came to take their order. John quickly ordered the first thing on the menu before turning back to Rose, who was stalling as much as she could by taking her time with her decision.

"Rose!" John finally snapped after a minute and a half of her antics.

"Oh fine, I'll have the steak." She huffed, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms as the waitress took their menus and headed back towards the kitchen. John raised a brow and Rose sighed, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table. "Okay..." She started again, taking a deep breath and staring into the deep brown eyes in front of her. "I just- I don't want you to hate me is all. What I'm gonna tell you is, well, it's complicated, an' it's gonna complicate both of our lives a heck of a lot more." He nodded in understanding, urging her to continue.

With another large huff, Rose reached into her purse and pulled out the file that Owen had given her the previous night. She had spent the majority of the late evening and very early morning looking over the files as well as adding in little notes and records of her own. She now had a slightly better idea of what had happened that night on the Game Station and what it had done to her biology.

Placing it on the table, Rose slid the folder towards the hand that John had resting next to his set of silverware. He immediately took the think brown paper and opened it, peering at the records inside. He looked up at Rose with a confused look, his eyebrow raised and his lips set in a small pout. Rose choked momentarily from the feeling of guilt that arose from her stomach, but was quick to force it back down in order to explain.

"It's me," she stated with a sigh. "Last night at work, Owen brought me this file and explained how he's been keeping a close watch on me since I came to Torchwood- no John, nothing like that." She said in response to John's predatory glare. Once his gaze softened, she continued. "He noticed that over the five years I've been leading my team, my features haven't really changed and that I also seem to heal faster than average when I sustain an injury. So, he decided to do some medical tests."

The waitress returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses, placing the cups down before filling them each halfway with the blood red liquid. After a quick assurance that their food was on their way, the brunette woman hurried away and Rose continued with her explanation.

"Anyways, it turns out that upon running these tests, he found that my cells were locked in a sort of... Temporal stasis I think he said?" She grabbed at a page underneath the record John had turned to and placed in on top, providing the evidence to back up what she was saying. "Then, he decided to take a look at my DNA as well." She told him, pointing to a picture on another page on the table that showed the newly complicated visual of her DNA. John stared blankly at the paper and Rose knew his mind was working a mile a minute behind his eyes. He may not be a full Time Lord, but John still had the mind and memories of the Doctor and it wasn't long until he shot up out of his seat, running his hands through his messy hair and startling Rose, causing her to jump in surprise.

"You're not human." He stated as he began to pace in short quick circles, causing many eyes to turn to them from throughout the restaurant. "You're not _human_!" He shouted, turning to face Rose and slamming his hands down on the table. She flinched and shied away from the furious man, but was unable to break free from his intense gaze. "Gods, I'm so stupid! No, no I'm not. _He's_ so stupid! _He_ is, not me! _Not_ me. He should have run tests! He should have made sure you were safe, but he didn't! The stupid, idiotic _git_!"

"John," Rose started cautiously, raising her hand towards the angry man as her eyes flickered nervously around the restaurant, taking in the looks the two of them were receiving from everyone around them.

"Don't." He hissed, moving away from her and back towards the wall. "Just don't."

Rose recoiled as though she had been hit and shrunk pathetically into her chair. She had really hoped that John would understand her situation and offer her the support she needed, but naturally things could never be so easy.

"Sir?" A tiny voice squeaked from behind Rose. John turned his gaze to the petite waitress furiously and she staggered back a few steps before speaking again. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You're disturbing the other guests..." She trailed off as John had already grabbed his coat and was flying towards the door. The waitress turned to Rose and offered her a comforting hand on the shoulder. "That was really harsh what he said there, about you not being human? I know it's not my place, and I only heard the one half of the conversation, but I doubt you deserved that kind of reaction." She offered. Rose gave her a grateful smile and stood up.

"No, he's right. I really am a terrible person. It's him that didn't deserve what I told him. But thank you." She gave the waitress a hefty tip before following John out of the restaurant. Upon exiting, she glanced around until she spotted him leaning against the car, his head in his hands. Cautiously, Rose approached him and after a moment's hesitation, placed a hand on his bicep.

"So what does this mean for us then?" He asked in a voice so broken that he truly sounded like the real Doctor. Rose frowned and removed her hand from John's arm.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, peering down at the asphalt.

John's expression turned to stone and he got into the driver's side of the vehicle. With a dejected sigh, Rose went around and slid into the passenger seat.

The car ride was made in silence once again, but this time nobody felt the desire to speak. By the time the blue sports car pulled up to the Tyler estate, John's knuckles were white on the steering wheel and Rose felt close to tears.

"John-"

"Out."

"John, please-"

"_Out_, Rose. _Now_."

With a hardly muffled sob, Rose stepped out of the car and started making her way to the front door.

"Oh, and Rose?" John called from his now open window. The young woman turned around hopefully, but her face dropped when John threw a small object at her. "You've taken everything else from me, you may as well have this." With that, he drove away, leaving Rose standing hurt in her driveway.

Hesitantly, she reached down and plucked the box from where it landed next to her. With shaky hands, she opened the small velvet box and choked on a sob when she saw the delicate blue diamond studded ring inside.

Feeling worse than she had when John left, Rose hurried inside and straight to her mother.

"Rose, what's wrong?" Jackie asked worriedly, standing up from her place on the couch next to Pete. Rose didn't answer, but instead flung herself into the older woman's arms and cried.

* * *

**(A/N): Thanks for reading! Please drop a review and tell me what you think! See you next week!**

**~JL**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"No." The Doctor growled to the TARDIS in frustration. The ship hummed in annoyance before urging him on again. "_No_!" He shouted, pounding the console with his rubber hammer. "I'm telling you, the electro spanner is not going to help!" Another light tingle rang throughout the ship. "No, the hydro spanner isn't going to help either you cheeky little thing." The TARDIS chirped lightly, imitating a giggle and the Doctor sighed. "You know, this is why I stopped traveling alone. Otherwise I end up bantering with my own ship!" Once again, the old blue box hummed affectionately and the Doctor went back to tinkering with the console.

"But alone is better," he assured himself. "No innocent people get hurt this way." The TARDIS let out a sad whine, obviously worrying for her Time Lord, but the Doctor gave no indication of having heard and continued on with his work.

"Now then!" He exclaimed, hopping up and wiping some grease onto an old towel. "Where d'you feel like heading old girl? I was thinking of saying hello to the ol' Virgin Queen, her majesty Elizabeth the First? What do you think?" The ship whirred in excitement causing the Doctor to grin hugely and start pulling levers and pushing buttons. "Off we go then!" He shouted. "Allons-y!"

* * *

With a muffled groan, Rose Tyler poked her head out from under her pillow to investigate the sudden brightness making it's way into her bedroom. Glancing around, she found that her mother was standing at the foot of her bed, her arms crossed. All the windows around the room were wide open.

"Five more minutes..." She grumbled, pulling her pillow back over her face. She felt the mattress sink next to her with the weight of her mother. It didn't move until Jackie lifted the pillow and began stroking her daughter's face softly.

"Rose?" Jackie questioned softly as she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind Rose's ear. Her only answer was an incoherent groaning noise as the young woman leaned into the warmth of her mother. "Rose honey, it's time to get up, I think it's time for you to tell me what happened with John last night."

"I don't want to talk about it." Rose claimed, pulling back from Jackie's touch and rolling over.

"Rose, you came home a sobbin' mess an' ran right into my arms, then went up to bed an' stayed there for twelve hours! Not to mention you've been distant since the night before last. It's time you gimme an explanation." Jackie expanded, nudging Rose with her elbow. "I need you to talk to me Rose." With a sigh, the young woman rolled back over to face Jackie. She peered up at her mother from under her dark lashes pleadingly, but Jackie didn't give in.

"Ugh, fine." Rose mumbled, sitting up and pulling her pillow to her chest. "Remember that time when I insisted on traveling with the Doctor no matter what you said to me? You said that one day, there was gonna be some girl in some marketplace somewhere that may look like me, but wasn't me. Not the simple human Rose Tyler from the Powell Estate. And you were right mum, by the gods, you were right."

Over the next half an hour, Rose explained to her mother about what had happened just before the Doctor's regeneration. She told Jackie every last detail from the Game Station with the exception of the last few moments after the destruction of the Daleks, as they were still unclear to her. To Rose's surprise, the elder Tyler took the information better than she had expected. She was beginning to feel as though there was nothing to worry about until her mother asked the question she'd been hoping to avoid.

"What about John?"

Rose froze. Cautiously, she looked up from where her gaze was focused on her hands and met Jackie's eyes.

"What about him?"

Jackie rolled her eyes at her daughter's insistence of being difficult.

"What happened last night that had you so upset?" Rose hesitated for a moment longer before giving in and answering.

"I tried to tell him is all." She assured, wiping at her eyes as tears threatened to emerge. "I showed him the medical records and the DNA information an' he got mad. He got, he got so _furious_! He yelled an' got us kicked outta the restaurant, then he drove me home without a word and when I tried to talk he just told me to get out." Tears were flowing freely down Rose's face now as a look of surprise spread across Jackie's. The younger Tyler took a deep shuddering breath before she started speaking again. "An' I thought that wasn't bad enough. He went an' chucked that bloody engagement ring at me out the window, told me I had already taken everything else from him. Then he just drove away mum! He just left! He just- I-" Rose broke down in sobs and burrowed herself into her mother's side, Jackie's arms wrapping around her tight as she rocked her daughter back and forth comfortingly.

"Shh, Rose, it's okay, it's okay honey, everything will be just fine, I promise."

The two Tylers stayed in each other's embrace as Rose cried. Eventually, the young woman's sobs reduced to sniffles and she looked up at her mother.

Jackie looked down and offered a comforting smile. "The thing I don't get," Jackie started. "Is that I had a nice long conversation with the Doctor back when he had his old face, an' I made him promise that he'd never unintentionally get you hurt. He gave me his word, and you were happy! Why would John disregard that and make you hurt so _much_?"

Rose sniffed and untucked herself from Jackie's embrace. "I know why." She stated as she flopped back onto her pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

"It's because he's human." Rose said, turning her head to her nightstand where a picture of her, Jack, and the Doctor stood. Jackie had taken it for them during a visit and kept it close at hand in case something happened and Rose needed the reminder. The young woman smiled forlornly, remembering that visit. It was the first time her mother had met Jack, and it was quite considerably the last.

Jack, being himself, had begun flirting with Jackie, only to receive a vicious slap to the left side of his face. The Doctor had laughed for the whole duration of the trip, claiming that he'd warned Jack.

Things had been so much easier back then. Rose missed the Doctor with all her being, and she felt guilty as she realized that she was just using John as a substitute to fill the gap. Her heart also ached for Jack, who she had thought dead until just recently. She felt remorse for cursing him with the inability to die, but a larger part of her was overjoyed that he was alive.

It tore at her to think she could never see either of them again. Even Mickey, her best friend since childhood was back in the other universe.

"You heard the Doctor when he talked about humans." Jackie nodded in acceptance as Rose explained. "That whole superiority complex, and now he is one. Well, John is. But all of his memories are the Doctor's; everything he experienced, John experienced as well. Every stupid thing humans have done in his company- and now that's what he is. He's bitter, and he's hurt. He doesn't have his own life, not really. It's good that he left me, he can start again."

During her explanation, Rose started to become less hurt and more determined. She was right, she knew she was. John needed a new life, one without the Doctor's mistakes looming over him. She was just a memory to him, he had no choice in being with her. It was his time now. He could have a real job, meet a normal woman, and have a family of his own. He had his life, and she had hers.

"I need to get back to him mum." Rose stated, looking at her mother apologetically.

"Oh, I know." Jackie responded with a smile and a reassuring pat on the arm. Rose blinked in confusion.

"What?"

"Rose, this'll be the third time you leave us for the Doctor. I've had plenty of time to come to terms with the fact that he's the one you wanna be with. I've had twenty-five years with you, and now that you know what bein' with him is like, you don't want this life anymore. I accept that. Besides, every time we try an' say goodbye, you end up back with me anyway."

Rose got out of bed and stood up to face her mother straight on, her arms crossed.

"Here I had this whole argument as to why you should let me go, an' you're just... Okay with it? Did you /want/ me to leave?" She questioned.

"What I _want_," Jackie responded. "Is for you to be happy. You need him for that, love." The older woman stood and made her way to the doorway. "Besides, you're an adult now, what you do with your life is up to you."

"But what about you?" Rose questioned as Jackie made to leave the bedroom.

"Don't you worry about me sweetie. I have Pete again, something that never would have happened were it not for you and the Doctor. Plus we have Tony; I really have no chance of being lonely. Now, get to Torchwood and start working on a way back."

"Oh thank you mum!" Rose exclaimed, running to Jackie and engulfing her in a hug. It was another huge weight off of her shoulders to know that her family was backing her up on her decision to return to her original universe, now all she had to do was find out _how_.

* * *

"Oh Bad Wolf girl! I could kiss you!" The war Doctor exclaimed, blowing a dramatic kiss into the air.

"I'm sorry," the tenth Doctor interjected as the eleventh started in surprised confusion. "Did you say Bad Wolf?"

* * *

**(A/N): Here's this week's update! I hope you enjoyed it! I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone so much for their support! I already have over 50 followers on this story, which is more than I've had on any of my works before! I used to find updating my fics a chore that I had to do, but now it's a nice escape to sit down and write a chapter in between work, school, sports, and extracurricular things :) Y'all are babes. See you next week! (Oh and thanks again to my beautiful BETA ;))**

**~JediLlama **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:**

"I'm trying to remember everything the Doctor ever told me about parallel universes, see if I can find a flaw somewhere." Rose said as Tosh continued running through mathematical possibilities on her computer. "It's not gonna be nearly as easy as it was last time. There's no holes to jump through, and we don't have the in between that we had with Donna last time."

Tosh scoffed. "Yes, because last time was so easy."

Rose rolled her eyes and turned upon hearing Gwen enter the room.

"Find anything?" The brunette questioned, handing Rose a cup of tea and placing a cup of coffee next to the computer for Toshiko. Both murmured their thanks, Tosh never taking her eyes off the screen. Sighing, Rose turned her attention to Gwen.

"We haven't found anything yet," she told her, balancing her weight on her left foot and caressing her tea. "Like I was just telling Tosh, we don't have the advantage of the universal walls being weak like last time. But, we do have the bonus of not having to start from scratch. Right now we're working on finding out how much we have to boost the power of the dimension cannon in order to break through to the other universe. Then we'll worry about reducing the damage and then a way to fix it once I'm through."

"And making sure you don't get torn to pieces in the process?" Gwen questioned.

"Still working on that." Rose replied with a cheeky tongue in teeth grin. Gwen chuckled nervously and shook her head at the team leader's seemingly little care for her own wellbeing.

"It'll be different without you around, that's for sure." She said before moving around Rose and over towards the table holding the old dimension cannon. "And I had so hoped we'd never have to use it again..." She mumbled in agitation. Toshiko laughed behind her. Getting the cannon working had been a difficult task for all of Rose's team and a number of other Torchwood employees as well. But luckily, because of who Rose's father was, she was able to enlist some of the best help she could get in regards to the mechanics as well as the cost of the supplies required. Sometimes being an heiress has it's benefits, she had thought to herself. Now she only hoped that she could find a way to make it work once again.

* * *

"I suppose I've been delaying long enough, haven't I old girl?" The Doctor asked as he stroked the TARDIS console fondly. The ship gave an excited whir in reply to which the Doctor whacked the console. "How can you be so excited? Ood Sigma told me 'my song would be ending soon'; how is that not in the least bit foreboding?" In response, the ship let out a small sound as if to console the Time Lord. Sighing, the Doctor stood up from his spot on the jump seat and began inputting the coordinates that would take him back to the planet of the Ood.

"Well, here we are!" The Doctor stated as the TARDIS materialized on the snowy ground. "No more delaying I'm afraid..." He added with a sigh before smiling brightly and running towards the door as if he wasn't in the least bit troubled. "Off we go!" Grabbing a Stetson off the railing, he headed down the ramp and poked his head out the big blue door to see Ood Sigma waiting for him a little ways away, translator ball in hand.

"Ah! Now, sorry. There you are. So, where were we? I was summoned, wasn't I? An Ood in the snow, calling to me." He greeted before trailing off absentmindedly. "Well, I didn't exactly come straight here. Had a bit of fun, you know. Travelled about, did this and that. Got into trouble. You know me. It was brilliant. I saw the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestadt, saved a planet from the Red Carnivorous Maw, named a galaxy Alison. Got married. That was a mistake. Good Queen Bess. And let me tell you, her nickname is no longer. Ahem. Anyway, what do you want?" The Doctor asked Ood Sigma following his short rambling.

"You should not have delayed." The Ood replied scoldingly. The Doctor shrugged before replying.

"The last time I was here you said my song would be ending soon, and I'm in no hurry for that."

Without giving a reply, Ood Sigma began walking in the direction opposite the TARDIS.

"You will come with me." The creature stated bluntly, continuing to trek through the snow.

"Hold on." The Doctor interjected, causing the Ood to pause and look at him. "Better lock the TARDIS." Pointing a small remote at the ship, the Time Lord pressed a button causing the light on top of the TARDIS to flash twice, accompanied by matching beeps. "See?" The Doctor asked in a amusement, looking at Sigma for a reaction. "Like a car. I locked it like a car. Like. It's funny. No? Little bit? Blimey, try to make an Ood laugh. So how old are you now, Ood Sigma? Ah-" The Doctor cut himself off as his gaze settled on the extravagant Ood city standing tall before him.

"Magnificent. Oh, come on, that is splendid. You've achieved all this in how long?" He questioned, turning his eyes to Ood Sigma.

"One hundred years." Sigma replied proudly, or as proudly as an Ood was able to. The Doctor's eyes shot quickly back and forth before the head Ood and the metropolis in which his species lived before releasing a sigh.

"Then we've got a problem, because all of this is way too fast. Not just the city, I mean your ability to call me, reaching all the way back to the twenty first century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal." He explained, his mind working a mile a minute in an attempt to explain the accelerated progress. Meanwhile, Ood Sigma stopped walking and turned to face the Doctor.

"And the Mind of the Ood is troubled." The creature informed him, turning his head to the side and blinking.

"Why, what's happened?" The man replied absentmindedly, still lost in his own thoughts.

"Every night, Doctor, every night we have bad dreams."

* * *

Startled awake by a loud yell, Rose shot up out of her chair and into a defensive stance, looking around frantically. After a few seconds, she realized that there was no threat and that she had simply fallen asleep at her desk at Torchwood. Slipping out of her attack position, Rose rubbed her eyes and left her office to investigate the noise that had woken her.

"Ianto?" Rose asked sleepily, stifling a yawn as she stumbled into the room holding the dimension cannon. "Is that you?" The young woman was met only with silence, causing her to look around questioningly. She waited for a few more moments and still nobody presented themselves. Crouching into an offensive posture, Rose slowly pulled out the gun she kept in her belt and made her way towards where the dimension cannon was being held. "Hello?" She called, but once again there was no answer. As she rounded the corner and laid eyes on the table, she froze and a bolt of panic made its way through her chest.

The dimension cannon wasn't where it was supposed to be resting on the flat black surface.

With a deep breath, Rose crept further forward until she was standing almost beside the table. Cautiously, she looked over to the other side of it and stumbled back in surprise.

"John!" She shrieked, causing the Doctor's duplicate to jump and drop the screwdriver he was holding. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?!" Putting her gun back in its holster, Rose examined the space behind the table. Spread out across the floor was a variety of different metal pieces, tools, wires, and many other miscellaneous objects, as well as the dimension cannon itself.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" John huffed, picking up the screwdriver he dropped and continuing to work at the small circuit board he was holding. "I'm trying to get your stupid dimension cannon working." Rose blinked.

"Why?" She questioned. A small flare of hope bubbled in the pit of her stomach as she watched the human incarnation of her Doctor fiddle with the circuitry. That hope was shattered however, when he shot her a glare and spat his reply.

"The sooner you're back with your precious _Doctor_, the sooner I can get on with my life." Rose flinched, trying to mask the hurt, but John was still able to sense that he'd hit a mark. "Besides, you need my help with this. You have no chance of getting to the other universe without my knowledge." This remark caused a spark of anger to flare up in Rose and she quickly started to defend herself.

"I managed to do it just fine the last time thank you." She snapped, crossing her arms across her chest. John just rolled his eyes and began installing the circuit board to the dimension cannon. Rose waited a few more moments for a response, but when she found that John wasn't going to grace her with an answer, she turned on her heel and headed back into her office.

Plunking back down onto her chair, she finally glanced at the clock to see what time it was. She started slightly when she saw that the clock on her desk read eleven thirty in the evening. Glancing around, she just then realized that the office was fairly dark and she couldn't hear anybody else around.

They probably all went home, she thought to herself as she stood up and made her way over to the coffee machine. She decided it was too late for her to drive home, only to have to come back again in the morning. Besides, someone had to keep an eye on John and make sure he didn't destroy the entire laboratory. Human or not, he was still the Doctor, and he tended to make a mess of things wherever he went.

No, Rose scolded herself, shaking her head as she put a fresh packet of coffee into the machine. John wasn't the Doctor, he was a man made up of his same memories and experiences. Although it could be argued that that made him the same person, Rose knew better. John was a human living in the shadow of a bigger man, and it was damn well time that she started seeing that. From the moment he was created and blew up the Dalek crucible, he was a different man. The Doctor said he was lost, broken; but that was wrong. John was an entirely different man from the wandering time traveller, a man who handled situations far differently than his doppelgänger. Besides, she had extra proof that the two men were not the same- the Doctor would never hurt Rose the way that John was hurting her now.

Picking up her now full coffee mug, Rose walked back to where John was fiddling with the dimension cannon and sat down on the floor across from him.

"How long have you been here?" the blonde woman asked, taking a small sip of her steaming beverage.

"Four hours." He responded without looking away from what he was doing. "My plan was to come here and fix this piece of junk while you were at home. But of course you had to fall asleep at your desk and still be here when I started working." Rose looked down at her fingers, curling them around her mug and taking in the excess heat through her skin.

"You've been here that long?" She asked with concern. John grunted in reply. More guilt flooded Rose's consciousness at the knowledge that she was the cause for yet another sleepless night for her now ex-boyfriend. While reason told her that it wasn't _her_ fault that John was here, she still couldn't help feeling bad that he was, and so soon after she had broken his heart. "You should take a break."

John scoffed, picking up a pair of pliers from the ground next to him. "Taking a break won't get this cannon working any faster. Besides, I'm just about finished my modifications to the cannon itself, then all I have to do is finish the programming that Tosh started."

Rose stared blankly at John, unable to fully comprehend what he had just said. "You're almost finished... already? How is that even possible? It took us months to figure it out the first time, and that was _with_ the interdimensional holes! Not to mention that the Doctor said crossing to parallel universes was impossible."

"Did the Doctor ever try to cross through parallel worlds?" John asked rudely, although he did have a point. The Doctor had always said that jumping across the void was impossible, and yet how many times had she done it now? True, the last time there were multiple gaps between the universes, but what about when Mickey and Pete had so easily come through when she was still in the other world? And the first time they travelled to a parallel reality, when the TARDIS had so easily just fallen through?

Rose shook her head. Thinking negatively wasn't going to get her anywhere in this situation. She needed to put those thoughts out of her head and be glad that John was going to have the cannon up and running so quickly. Besides, the Doctor had given her perfectly reasonable explanations for the ease of travelling between the worlds when had been done previously; she just couldn't exactly remember them. But then, the Doctor did like to ramble on and use big scientific words that did nothing but make Rose's head hurt.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. I guess I'm just lucky that you decided to give me a hand. Thank you, by the way."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

The next few hours passed in mostly silence, the only noises being the occasional irritated exclamation from John or a small question from Rose. The young woman had attempted to make conversation a few times, but eventually gave up when John showed no interest in making small talk. Eventually, Rose drifted off to sleep again, this time on the cement floor of a Torchwood laboratory, using her arm as a pillow while she listened to John click away at keys on the keyboard.

* * *

"No, no, no, no, _no_," The Doctor mumbled quickly under his breath as he dashed back to the TARDIS, not caring that his favourite chucks were being soaked by the snow. "No, no, no!" The pinstripe clad man pulled out the same remote he used to lock the ship earlier as a joke and unlocked it, flinging the doors open without slowing down for even a moment. Dashing straight to the console, he began frantically pulling levers and flipping switches, stopping quickly to plug in his desired coordinates. There was no way, simply no way, that this was possible. It wasn't fair. He wasn't allowed to come back, not again.

The TARDIS swirled through the time vortex at a breakneck speed, sending miscellaneous items flying within its depths. The Doctor was pushing her, harder and faster than he ever had before. The usually playful ship was working her hardest to aid her thief, knowing how important it was that they arrived in the smallest amount of time possible.

Finally, the blue box jerked to a stop, arriving on the familiar ground of London 2009. Christmas.

Ironic, the Doctor thought, that all bad things seemed to happen on what was supposed to be the most joyous holiday of the human race.

Flinging open the doors, the Time Lord exited the TARDIS in a hurry only to stop and look around, inhaling deeply. A few blocks East, the Master did the same, sniffing the air and detecting his fellow Gallifreyan. Smirking evilly from his mountain of rubbish, the Master jumped down and grabbed a large iron bar before hitting it against an old oil drum.

_One._

_Two._

_Three._

_Four._

He paused before repeating the pattern.

_One._

_Two._

_Three. _

_Four. _

Here come the drums Doctor, he thought. Here. Come. The. Drums.

* * *

**(A/N): Thank you everyone for reading! Please take a moment out of your day to drop a review! Please? Have a great week!**

**~JL**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: **

* * *

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Toshiko demanded, walking into Torchwood to find John typing away furiously at her computer. John brushed her off with a grunt and continued working, the glare from the screen reflecting off his specks. With a sigh, Tosh decided to ignore the man and approached her team leader instead. About ten feet from where John was sitting, Rose was curled up on the floor beside the dimension cannon, coffee cup lying forgotten by her toes. The woman was fast asleep, her mouth slightly open and her eyes twitching as though she were dreaming which, Tosh deduced, she probably was.

"Rose?" Tosh murmured quietly, leaning down next to the sleeping figure. She figured that if Rose was in the same room as John after what had happened between them- she gave everybody a full explanation the day after- then chances were that she didn't want him unsupervised. Being that the Asian woman wasn't entirely sure what John was up to, she decided it was probably best to wake her friend.

Gently, Tosh prodded Rose's arm un an attempt to get her to wake up. When she didn't respond, Tosh poked her a little harder and started saying her name.

"Rose!" She exclaimed, finally giving up on being considerate. With a degrading squeal, Rose shot up into a sitting position, her arms coming up to cover her face in a defensive manner. Laughing, Tosh stood up and made her way back over to the computer, motioning for Rose to follow her. With a heavy sigh Rose stood up and, stretching, followed the other woman over towards John.

"Would you mind telling me what he's doing?" The older woman asked, motioning with her hand to the man at the computer. "Because he's obviously never going to tell me." Rose smiled and looked over John's shoulder at the digits flying rapidly across the screen.

"I couldn't tell you if I tried." Rose stated apologetically, the apparently random sequences making no sense to her. "Sorry." She added as an afterthought. With an eye roll and an incoherent grumble, Tosh stepped back from behind John's chair and went to examine the newly modified dimension cannon instead. Turning back to John, Rose tried once more to make sense of the information presented on the computer before giving up completely and opting to ask John about his progress instead.

"Everything's coming together nicely," he began, stopping to smack the side of the computer screen quickly as it glitched slightly. "I only electrocuted myself twice more after you fell asleep." Rose chose not to answer, instead pulling up a stray chair and plopping backwards onto it, her arms coming to rest across the chair's back rest.

"Find anything worth sharing?" she questioned, looking at him with a raised eye brow.

"Weeeell, not really, no. Oh wait. Maybe... Yes! Yes, it looks like I did just find something. Right now. What brilliant timing." He rambled as a small blue blip appeared at the bottom right corner of the screen.

"What does the blinkin' blue dot mean?" The blonde asked, sitting up straighter as though it would help her to understand better.

"It's an alert." John stated, pulling up another screen that was showing the pair a digital blueprint of a cone shaped object. "It's saying that there's a disturbance in the timelines- a temporal shift if you will. Something big has happened and it's made a slight alter to the walls between this universe and your old one. Normally, it wouldn't be nearly enough to get through, but with the modifications I've made to your big blasty gun, you should, theoretically, be able to squeeze through without so much as a small scratch between the universes."

"Let's do it." Rose almost yelled, shooting up from her seat.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on." Tosh interjected from where she had sidled up beside Rose, unbeknownst to the blonde. "He said theoretically, meaning in _theory_, meaning it may not work if actually attempted."

Rose gave her a blank look. "_Meaning_," Tosh exclaimed. "That it's too dangerous for you to go bounding into blindly!" Something raged inside of Rose causing her to want to snap at Toshiko, how dare she try and take away her happiness? Sensibly however, Rose knew that her friend was simply worried for her well being and forcefully pushed the animalistic anger to the back of her mind. Some part of her mind growled out in defiance, but the young woman ignored it, too preoccupied with the questions that were now bubbling inside of her.

"Okay, yeah, you're right. So, how did this shift thing happen?" She asked, directing her attention back to John and the rotating picture on the screen.

"I'm not entirely sure," he answered, studying the diagram intensely. "It must have been something huge though, I can tell you that."

Rose tilted her head questioningly. "I thought you said the shift was so small that it'd be near impossible to get through?"

"Yes," he replied. "But in order to make even the slightest movement, something incredibly gigantic, not to mention dangerous would have had to happen in one of the two universes. I can guarantee that nothing happened here, I would have felt the disturbance in the time stream, so it obviously happened back in the Doctor's world. I don't know what kind of trouble he's got himself into this time, but I can guarantee that whatever it is, it's not good."

Rose stood contemplating what she was just told as John began barking orders to Toshiko. Tosh looked at Rose for confirmation that she should do what her team leader's ex-boyfriend was telling her to do and Rose nodded. She walked over to the wall and slid down it, millions of thoughts running through her head. She paid no mind to John as he quickly told Tosh how to set up the cannon, nor did she hear Tosh snapping back at him for being so pushy. Instead, she sat on the floor with her knees to her chest, thinking about her Doctor.

Finally, she was going to see him again. Although it really hadn't been all that long since Donna and the twenty-seven planets, Rose was already missing the Doctor to the best of her capabilities. As she sat thinking, she realized that a domestic life with John was never really what she wanted. There was a sort of thrill to moving around all of time and space, only stopping when you wanted to, laughing and saving worlds all at the same time. Not that she wouldn't love the Doctor even without the travelling, but John simply just wasn't the Doctor. After all, she told herself, it's not the memories you have, but what you do with them. John chose to put his travelling in his past, choosing instead to live a normal life of his own. The Doctor however, Rose knew would never be able to do that. Travelling around was his life, it was what he did to hide from his personal monsters. It had Rose wondering what kind of monster he had run into this time that had caused such a drastic effect throughout his universe.

Rising from her place, Rose decided it was time that she found out. She purposefully walked over to the still arguing pair and picked up the forgotten dimension cannon at Tosh's feet. Neither party paid her any mind as she quickly lifted it up and placed it next to the computer. Plopping down in the computer chair, she wiggled the mouse in order to rid the device of its screen saver and began looking over the schematics. As though some foreign, yet uncomfortably familiar entity took control over her knowledge, Rose began to make sense of the information before her. Brushing it off as another side effect to the apparent return of Bad Wolf, she mentally sorted through enough of what she was reading to begin firing up the canon.

Flipping a couple switches on a newly installed panel, Rose started up the relocation program that John had added to the system as an extra boost to get her through to the next universe. All she had left to do was plug in the coordinates of where it was that she needed to go, which unfortunately, hadn't been present on the screen, meaning she would have to ask John.

Clearing her throat, she drew attention to herself and stopped the argument that was still raging full on between her coworkers. Amazing, she thought, how oblivious the two of them were being. Shocked, John looked around to observe all that Rose had done in the small amount of time.

"How-?" He started, but Rose waved her hand cutting him off. Shrugging, he walked around and checked all of Rose's work, making sure all the right levers were switched and the settings were correct.

"All I need is the coordinates," she said as he went to start the program that she already had running. "I did everything else." John shook his head in disbelief but moved back to the cannon to input the coordinates into the side of the device.

"How you did that is beyond me, and I would so love to find out, but I don't know how much time we have before things shift back and you can't make it through anymore. That'll just have to be something for the Doctor to figure out." John said with both awe and disdain. Looking at the coordinate panel, the metacrisis furrowed his eyebrow in confusion before quickly bounding back to the computer. "Huh."

"What is it?" Tosh asked, suddenly remembering her concern about the situation.

"Oh, nothing bad." He assured her, plunking a few keys on the keyboard. "It's just that there's two sets of compatible coordinates, so now I have to pick the right one. It looks like we have a choice between... um... actually, I'm not sure what this first one is. The coordinates are all funky, but the other option is London 2010. So, I'm gonna guess that that's where you want to go."

"Yes please."

"All righty then, I'll just plug those in, aaaand, you're all set to go!" he exclaimed happily. Then, his face falling slightly, he added, "You sure you're ready? I mean, it's now or never, it could collapse at any moment but, are you sure?" Rose smiled and patted John lovingly on the cheek.

"I already said my goodbyes to my family, and Tosh will tell the team what happened. It's time for all of you to get on with your life, and for me to get mine back." She said, grabbing his hand and giving it a comforting squeeze. Removing her hand, John found that there was now a small weight in his palm. Looking down, he saw the box he threw at Rose from the window of his car only a small time earlier. His shoes suddenly becoming interesting, he looked down and studied them shamefully. "Go find a nice girl," she murmured to him. "Someone that _you _love, not the Doctor. Find her and live the life that you want to. John Smith, have a fantastic life."

Giving a quick hug to Tosh, Rose lifted the dimension cannon from its spot next to the computer and activated it. With one last smile to the room's other occupants, a white light filled the room and when it receded, Rose Tyler was gone.

* * *

After an unexpected and soulful meeting with Wilf, the Doctor once again found himself confronting the Master, this time in an old abandoned warehouse. The Master angrily shot bolts of energy from his palms in the direction of the Doctor, but the Time Lord continued moving towards his childhood friend turned greatest enemy. Having already missed his target twice, the Master quickly became enraged and fired another long stream of energy straight into the Doctor's chest, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. The dark haired man gasped for breath and looked up at the Master as he approached threateningly.

"I had estates." He spat venomously. " Do you remember my father's land back home? Pastures of red grass, stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition. We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky. Look at us now." The man looked down at the Doctor in disdain, silently blaming him for the loss of Gallifrey.

"All that eloquence. But how many people have you killed?" The Doctor retaliated, ignoring the Master's taunts and choosing instead to focus on the problem at hand.

" I am _so_ hungry." He replied simply.

"Your resurrection went wrong. That energy... Your body's ripped open. Now you're killing yourself!" The Doctor's eyes were alight with concern for the other man; even after all he had done, the Master was still important to the Doctor. He was all that was left of his race, the race that he had killed.

"That human Christmas out there. They eat so much! All that roasting meat, cakes and red wine. Hot, fat, blood, food. Pots, plates of meat, and flesh, and grease, and juice, and baking, burnt, sticky hot skin. Hot. It's so hot." The Master said, going into a slight daze imagining all the food sources present around him.

"Stop it."

"Sliced. Sliced. Sliced." He continued, his head turning rapidly with every word.

"Stop it!" The Doctor said again.

"It's mine. It's mine. It's mine to eat and eat and eat!"

"Stop it," he said once more. "What if I ask you for help? There's more at work tonight than you and me." The Master snapped out of his daze and eyed the Doctor skeptically.

"Oh yeah?" He asked.

"I've been told something is returning." He gasped, still recovering from the Master's blast. The other man laughed and held out his arms.

"And here I am!" He exclaimed.

"No," the Doctor interjected. Something more."

"But it hurts." The Master whispered painfully.

"I was told the end of time." The Doctor said, an undertone of fear leaking into his voice.

"It hurts," The Master said again, ignoring the Doctor's words. "Doctor, the noise. The noise in my head, Doctor. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four! Stronger than ever before. Can't you hear it?" He whispered, dropping on his knees and crawling towards the Doctor.

"I'm sorry."

"Listen, listen, listen, listen. Every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts, there it is, calling to me. Please listen." The Master moved even closer to the Doctor so that their foreheads were resting against each others. With a small telepathic nudge, the Master projected his mind into the Doctor's.

"I can't hear it." The Doctor murmured apologetically, but the Master shushed him before he could say anything else.

"Listen."

With another push into the Doctor's mind, stronger this time, the Master opened his mind completely. The Doctor gasped as the all too familiar four part beat resonated throughout his head. He pulled away and looked up at the Master in disbelief.

"What?" The Master demanded, unsure how to react to his old friend's expression.

"But-"

"What!?" The blond man exclaimed again.

"I heard it," he replied, looking at the Master in awe. Slowly, his face fell and he continued. "But there's no noise. There never has been. It's just your insanity... What is it? What's inside your head?"

"It's real. It's real. It's real!" The Master cried, jumping up superhumanly and bounding off in another direction. Quickly and with a startled gasp, the Doctor sprung up from the ground and ran after him.

"All these years, you thought I was mad; King of the wasteland! But something is calling me, Doctor! What is it? What is it? What is it?!" The Master exclaimed frantically, looking down on the Doctor from atop a mountain of waste. Suddenly, a bright light appeared, engulfing the man, followed by another one shining down on the Doctor. Squinting, the Doctor watched as a group of military like soldiers descended from ropes towards them. Before he had time to react, two soldiers grabbed the Master and injected him with a sedative, knocking him out almost immediately.

"Don't!" The Doctor cried desperately, running towards the people in front of him. In response to his outburst, the army clad soldiers hoisted up their guns and began firing at him in an attempt to prevent him coming any closer. Ignoring them, the Oncoming Storm bolted as fast as he could towards the people carrying the other Time Lord away, effectively managing to evade many of the bullets.

Just when he thought he might make it to the Master, the Doctor felt a piercing pain in his lower back and collapsed, falling unconscious almost instantly.

* * *

**(A/N): Thanks everybody for reading! Thanks katzenjammers for being my BETA! That's how you spell that, right? Haha, anyway. The next update should be up next Sunday as usual, but it may be a couple days late just due to an atrocious amount of school work. Also, in case you're wondering, this fic isn't going to turn into a rewrite of season five with Rose in it. I thought about doing that, but I've decided against it as there's already enough of those stories floating around on this site that are probably better than anything I could come up with for it. There's still a little ways to go on it, we're probably about half way through now. Thank you everybody for your continued support! **

**PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN NEXT ;P**

**~JediLlama**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

With a bold flash of light unnoticed by the citizens of the busy city below, Rose Tyler appeared on a high rooftop in London. She stood in the dusk with her eyes closed, listening to the sounds around her. She strained her ears to hear the trademark sound of Pete's world- the Zeppelins. Failing to hear the whir of their large engines, she slowly opened her eyes and peered up at the sky. There were no loud floating ships littering the air, which she took as a good sign. She looked down from the rooftop and saw before her the Powell Estate, her old home. She smiled in gratitude to John for sending her to these coordinates and quickly made her way down off the building and into the street.

She had to make sure that this was the right universe, and the best way to do that would be to find and examine her old home. Just because this wasn't Pete's world didn't mean that she was in the right universe. She doubted she would be so lucky as to land in the correct universe the first time round, especially since it took her a good forty-eight times the last time she tried it. However, something in her gut told her that for once things might just be going her way.

Upon reaching the street, she broke out in a sprint towards the old flat she once shared with her mum. Excited, with adrenaline pumping through her veins, she moved the lampshade on the outside light of the apartment, picking up the spare key that was hidden there. Same key meant same apartment, right? She inserted it into the lock and turned it, satisfied when she heard a click. Pushing the door open, she rushed inside and stopped short, surprised at what she saw.

For a moment, disappointment overwhelmed her as she looked at the shambles in front of her. The whole place was torn apart, furniture knocked over and photos strewn across the room. She stepped forward and picked up a picture frame, brushing aside the broken glass and looking at the photo. From her hands, she saw her mother and a four-year-old Rose smiling up at her.

Laughing in relief, Rose picked up a few more pictures; all of them captured moments from her childhood and other times in her life. After the thankfulness of being in the correct universe wore off, the young woman walked around the abandoned flat aimlessly, her guilt taking over her.

How many times had she just up and left her family without giving them a proper goodbye?

She pushed the couch back up into its rightful position and sat down on it, allowing a few tears to fall from her brown eyes. Never again would she see her mother, Pete, Tony, or even that stupid little Yorkie that shared her name. She hadn't even told her brother or father where she was going.

Sniffling, she looked around the flat again. Looking down the hall, she noticed the door to her room propped open, a gentle breeze wafting from that direction. Wiping her cheeks, she stood and walked towards her room- though it hadn't really been hers for over four years.

She entered the room, walking over to the open window overlooking the street below. Across the road, she could see by the light of the street lamps the building on which she appeared earlier. She stood and inhaled the musky smell, distinctly different from the clean scent of Pete's world. Looking down, she saw that her nightstand had been moved to sit beneath the open window. On the small table was an intricate glass vase, delicately carved with a familiar circular pattern. Resting within the vase was a blood red flower, a rose, which was frozen in an eternal bloom. There was no other explanation for the flower looking as perfect as it did, there was no way that kind of beauty was natural. Next to the vase, wrapped in a blue ribbon, a folded piece of paper rested against a small porcelain bust of a golden wolf.

Hesitantly, the young woman reached her arm out and picked up the small statue. The animal was fixed in a pose in which its neck was stretched out above the rest of the body, howling to a moon that wasn't there. Tied around the wolf's neck was a delicate pink ribbon, tied in a bow with the ends curled.

Rose smiled and placed the wolf back on the table, reaching instead for the small piece of parchment. She unfolded it gingerly, the paper crinkling as she did so. Undoing the last fold, she discovered six words written in a beautiful script.  
_  
Rose Tyler: Defender Of The Earth_

With a sharp intake of breath, Rose clutched the paper to her chest. She never imagined that the Doctor would set up a small memorial for her in her old room, the only one with access to it being himself. For so long she had worried that she would be just another companion that the Doctor would leave behind, forgetting her forever. His old words echoed through her head.

_"Not you, never you."_

Rose had mentally scoffed at the time. Surely he had said that to all his companions to offer them some assurance- even if it was a lie. But now, as she looked down at her old nightstand table, she allowed herself to believe that maybe she truly was different. John had assured her many times that she was, but no matter how he looked or acted, her head refused to accept that him and the Doctor were the same man.

A strong gust of wind blew through the open window, the rich red flower petals ruffling in response. Rose placed the paper back on the small table next to the wolf. Smiling to herself, she shut the window and walked back into the common room. As she walked in, she was quickly alerted to a rapid beeping coming from the forgotten dimension cannon resting haphazardly on the couch. The young woman shifted the heavy gun until a small screen was visible on the metal. On the screen was a set of coordinates, the words 'source of alien tech' flashing beneath the little yellow dot. Rose laughed to herself, checking that her gun was in her holster and with one last look at the cannon's information, set out the door.

"Very Spock." She stated as she shut and locked the door behind her, tucking the key in her jean pocket.

* * *

Wilfred Mott was, among others, a strange old man. Not that he minded in the least of course, for though strange, he was happy. He had lived a long life and was still quite healthy and lively. He had a beautiful daughter, and an equally extravagant granddaughter. However, there was more to  
Wilfred Mott than met the eye. He had a led a nice, normal, boring life, until he met the Doctor and his life took a drastic turn. Many crazy, dangerous, and tragic things had come about from meeting this man and Wilfred Mott wouldn't change it for the world.

Now the old man stood in his room looking down at the revolver in his hand left over from his service days in the military. He had never killed a man, and of that he was proud. He never thought it was necessary, that no man deserved death no matter the crime. The strange woman on the telly told him differently. He gazed conflictingly at the weapon as the words of the mysterious woman ran through his head. She had said that there would come a time when he would have to take arms, that it was the only way in which the Doctor's life could be saved. He'd never killed a man, and he never wanted to, but he would in a heartbeat if it meant saving the man who had become such an integral part of his life.

He was roused from his musings by the sound of something hitting his window. Looking up, the old man saw the retreating tails of a brown trench coat disappearing into a large blue police box. Quickly, he stuffed his gun in his jacket and ran outside, calling out an excuse to Sylvia and Donna as he went.

* * *

"Naismith," The Doctor muttered, plugging coordinates into the console as he ran frantically throughout the TARDIS control room. After showing up at the Noble household and attracting the attention of Wilfred, the old man mentioned an unusual gift given to him by Donna. The fiery ex-companion had gifted him with a book written by Joshua Naismith; a completely irrelevant text that Wilfred would never have bought on his own. The Doctor quickly recognized the man from his psychic connection with the Ood earlier. Reasonably, the Doctor assumed that the Doctor-Donna was still lying dormant in the young woman's head, weaving its way into her consciousness and telling her to buy the book knowing that it would, ultimately, lead the Doctor to the right place. "If I can track him down. Ah. Right. Yes. Bigger on the inside. Do you like it?" The Time Lord continued, stopping briefly to acknowledge the awe on Wilfred's face. After a quick row and some choice words from Sylvia, Wilf had quickly jumped aboard the TARDIS and was now looking around in amazement.

"I thought it'd be cleaner." The old man stated, pulling his eyes away from the ship's interior and focusing them on the man in front of him.

"Cleaner?" The Doctor scoffed, mock offense showing in his features. "I could take you back home right now." Wilf gave a small laugh before turning his full attention on the Doctor, his face serious.

"Listen, Doctor, if this is a time machine... That man you're chasing, why can't you just pop back to yesterday and catch him?" he asked in obvious confusion. The Doctor gave a small smile, wishing it could only be that simple.

"I can't go back inside my own timeline," he began, looking down and fiddling with a knob on the console. "I have to stay relative to the Master within the causal nexus. Understand?"

"Not a word." Wilf replied confidently. The Doctor gave a chuckle as a wide grin spread across his face.

"Welcome aboard!" He said playfully before turning his full attention back on the task of flying the ship to the Naismith manor.

"Thank you." Wilfred whispered seriously, the revolver in his coat pocket weighing heavily against his chest like a promise left unfulfilled.

* * *

"We've moved!" Wilf exclaimed, hopping out of the TARDIS. "We've really moved!" The Doctor climbed out behind him, quickly shushing the old man with a comment of his own.

"You should stay here," The Doctor told him to which Wilf replied with "Not bloody likely." "And don't swear!" he added in resignation as he turned towards the TARDIS and pressed a button on his small remote, turning the blue box invisible. "Just a second out of sync. Don't want the Master finding the TARDIS," he explained to Wilfred as they set about finding the man from the Ood's vision. "That's the last thing we need."

"That man's a millionaire," Wilf whispered frantically as the two men snuck across the grounds of the mansion. "He's got his own private army!" The Doctor ignored him as they ducked behind an archway, out of the way of the soldiers marching by.

"Down here." The Doctor stated, opening a small door in another archway.

"Miss Addams, we're getting encouraging results from the ratio-foldback. Can you confirm?" A voice floated up from behind the door as The Doctor opened it, ushering Wilfred inside.

**"**The man's a miracle," another voice replied. "All the systems are slotting back into place! The shatterthreads have harmonised, the fibre links intensified," the voice continued to speak as the Doctor peeked his head around the corner to have a look. There he saw a short woman, obviously alien, typing away at a computer. " And the multiple overshots have triplicated!"

"Nice Gate." The Doctor said, stepping out from his hiding spot, Wilf following behind him and letting out a small greeting and apology. "Don't try calling security, or I'll tell them you're wearing a Shimmer. Because I reckon anyone wearing a Shimmer doesn't want the Shimmer to be noticed, or they wouldn't need a Shimmer in the first place." The Doctor threatened aimlessly. The woman visibly paled before quickly catching herself and eyeing the newcomers with a confused look.

" I'm sorry? What's a Shimmer?" She asked to which the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at her wrist lazily. The small device on her watch sparked and the woman turned a bright shade of green with little pricks coming out of the skin on her face.

"Shimmer." The Doctor stated pointedly.

"Oh, my Lord," Wilf exclaimed. "She's a cactus!"

"Miss Addams?" The same voice from earlier called from the small comm device belonging to the presumed Miss Addams. Ignoring it, the Time Lord pushed passed the now irritated looking alien woman to the computer she was typing at previously. He clicked a few buttons and observed some previously acquired data, noting the success of the machine once the Master was brought into the custody of Naismith.

"He's got it working, but what is it? What's working?" he yelled frantically to himself, looking intently at the screen as numbers and statistics flew by.

"What are you doing here?" A panicked male voice exclaimed from behind him. Without turning around, the Doctor held up his sonic and pointed it at the person behind him.

"Shimmer!" He sang as the man turned into the same green alien as the woman standing beside him. "Now, tell me quickly, what's going on?" He demanded, twirling to face the extraterrestrial pair. "The Master, Harold Saxon, Skeletor, whatever you're calling him, what's he doing up there?"

After a quick argument about the dangers of allowing the Master near the machine, the two aliens eventually identified themselves as Vinvocci. The two of them were a salvage team, come to collect the gate now that it was repaired and return it back to their home planet.

"It doesn't just mend one person at a time," the female, Addams, said with a scoff after the Doctor and Wilf questioned the relevance and size of the machine. "It mends whole planets!" Immediately the Doctor froze and turned his gaze fully upon the cactus-like woman.

"It does what?" He asked, praying to any deity that was listening that he had heard her wrong.

"It transmits the medical template across the entire population-" she began, but the Doctor was already gone. He raced down the corridor and up the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him, his hearts beating double time with the exertion. He really never did anything but run, he mused to himself before shaking his head clear of any errant thoughts and focusing on the problem in front of him. Racing into the room where the gate was being stored, The Doctor found himself face to face with the Master and Naismith, the two arguing frantically over something. After a moment of pause he quickly jumped into action, calling to the dark skinned man.

"Turn the Gate off right now!" The Doctor shouted desperately. In response, all the soldiers in the room lifted their guns and pointed them at the pinstripe-clad man. "No, no, no, no, no! Whatever you do, just don't let him near that device!"

"Oh, like that was ever going to happen." The Master scoffed as the guards continued to point their weapons at the Doctor. Glancing over to the floor on his right, the Doctor noticed that the Master's straight jacket had been haphazardly discarded, as well as some of the soldiers were lying unconscious on the carpet.

"What?" The Doctor asked quietly, genuinely confused with the situation. Surely Naismith wouldn't just allow the Master to do whatever he wanted with the machine? Why were the guards knocked out? Deciding to answer his questions later, the Doctor stepped into a ready position, silently challenging the other Time Lord.

"Oh Doctor," The Master laughed, grinning maniacally at him. "I wouldn't be so reckless if I were you." Concerned, the Doctor looked about his surroundings once more. Wilf was standing safe in the doorway, there were no other guards hiding anywhere, and Rossiter, the male alien, had just sidled his way into the room wearing one of the guard's outfits. Confused, he looked back at the Master. The madman simply laughed, his skull illuminating through his skin as he did so. "Maybe you should learn to take better care of your pets. Bring her in!"

The Doctor's blood ran cold. Had the Master found out about Donna and brought her here? If so, she would be in terrible danger. Not only would her memory returning pose a threat, and Wilf was bound to act irrationally if his granddaughter was involved. There was no way that the Doctor could see her being here a good thing. He swallowed thickly, praying that she was still safe at home with Sylvia. His prayers stopped short however when two guards came out of a side doorway, wrestling a small female figure in an attempt to hold her down. The Master laughed evilly as the woman looked up, eyes wide, and spotted the Doctor.

"Rose?"

* * *

**(A/N): As I said, I was really busy and did skip a week of updates! Sorry about that! I hope this chapter has made up for the wait! All your reviews have been begging for Rose and the Doctor to get back together! I won't leave you hanging without an update next week, promise! Please review and let me know what you think! **

**Thanks for reading! **

**~JediLlama**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

* * *

_The Master laughed evilly as the woman looked up, eyes wide, and spotted the Doctor._

_"Rose?"_

* * *

"Hi Doctor." Rose greeted weakly from the arms of the soldiers holding her. The Doctor stared at her in shock, confused as to how she was here. Last he saw of her she was on Bad Wolf Bay with another version of him, a _human _version. Scenario upon possible scenario ran through his head, but the Time Lord could not fathom a reasonable explanation for her being here.

"Rose," he said again. "What are you doing here?" The young woman shrugged guiltily and gave him a meek smile in reply.

"I was scanning for alien tech," she explained. "Saw a big blip on the radar and thought it was the TARDIS. I've never seen anything else with that much technological complexity, so it made sense." The Doctor simply blinked in reply. His feisty pink and yellow human had defied all odds once again, and he still hadn't a clue why. As he was opening his mouth to voice his confusion, the Master cut him off.

"Yes yes, the little companion came back once more!" He sang before turning to face Rose. "But your timing Miss Tyler, I must say it's atrocious." Rose looked at the crazed Time Lord in shock as the Master lifted her face with his hand, tilting her chin up. Suddenly outraged, the Doctor burst forward with a yell.

"Don't you touch her!" He screamed. The guards reacted instantly, grabbing the enraged man as he ran by, forcing him to the floor and lifting their guns to his head.

"You're not really in a place to be giving orders Theta." The Master laughed, continuing to examine Rose's face. "You impossible little human you..." he murmured.

"How do you know my name?" She asked suspiciously, eyeing the Master as his skull illuminated through his skin again.

"I do my research of course," he said, clicking his tongue. "Back when I was Saxon, I knew the only way to come out on top was to learn everything I could about the Doctor since we last met. Then, there was the year that never was." The Doctor cringed noticeably from his place on the ground. "Oh, how I loved that year. Having the earth's precious Doctor at my mercy. For twelve glorious months I tortured him, trying to get a ruse out of him. Every time he screamed in pain, I thought I had won, but every time the same thoughts projected throughout his head." Rose was horror stricken by the words of the lunatic in front of her. She didn't know much about the Master's reign over the earth for a year that was later undone, but she new enough from the way the Doctor's face twisted in regret. She also recalled Martha saying something about it in the TARDIS after the Dalek crucible. "The same bloody thoughts, about the same bloody girl. Thank Rassilon that Rose isn't here! Rose is safe! Rose is far away from me, living a safe and happy life! Rose this, Rose that, Rose, Rose, ROSE!"

The Master screamed and jumped over the heads of everyone in the room, using the same electrostatic energy beams he had used on the Doctor before. He landed in the Gate causing sparks to fly everywhere.

"No!" The Doctor screamed, pushing the momentarily distracted guards away and hopping up. "Get him out of there!" He ran forward only to be stopped by another energy beam crashing into his chest. The Doctor fell as he heard Rose scream out his name. Her voice... A sound that he was so sure he would never hear again. Crazed laughter burst from the Master's lips and Rose's calls were quickly silenced.

"He's in my head!" Naismith cried, clutching his hands to his skull. Everyone in the room was performing a similar action, holding their heads in their hands. Everyone, he noticed, except for Rose and Rossiter. The Vivocci he could understand as he wasn't part of the human race and Addams had said that the genetic transfer was species wide. That didn't however; explain why Rose was standing wide-eyed between two pained guards, looking around in panic.

"Doctor!" Wilf cried, pulling the man out of his thoughts. "There's...There's this face..." The Doctor turned to look at the elder man, finding him in a similar state as everyone else. His hand was pressed into his forehead with his eyes scrunched closed as if he were fighting a headache.

"What is it?" The Doctor asked frantically, running up to stand next to Wilfred. "What can you see?" He placed a comforting hand on Wilf's shoulder and the old man looked up, pointing to the Master.

"Well, it's him! I can see him!" Frantically, the Doctor ran to the main computer in the room and started typing away frantically, trying to shut down the machine.

"Doctor, how can I help?" Rose asked, running up to join him at the computer.

"It's not working! I can't turn it off!" He exclaimed in a strained voice. He turned to look at Rose, finding an equal amount of panic in her eyes.

"Doctor, what's happening?" She asked. Behind them, Wilf let out a loud groan as everyone's heads began spinning rapidly.

"Wilf!" The Doctor cried, running over and pushing the man towards the glass cubicles on the side of the room. "Rose, take him inside the cubicle!" He called as he ran into the opposite cubicle and pressed the button, unlocking it for them. Quickly, the blonde woman grabbed Wilf and pulled him into the small space with her. Once they were safely inside, The Doctor pressed at a few buttons, allowing the Gate's influence to cut out within the cubicle. One he was finished, Rose slammed her hand down on the button and unlocked the Doctor's side. He stepped out and ran towards the computer once more.

"Fifty seconds and counting!" The Master sang happily, stopping the Doctor in his tracks.

"To what?" he asked. In response, the other Time Lord turned his head and flashed him a large smile.

"Oh, you're going to love this."

Meanwhile, in the small sheltered cubicle, Wilfred's phone began to ring. Manoeuvring himself around Rose, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Hello?" He asked into it before visibly paling. The young woman in the space with him put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he continued to speak. "Oh God, Donna?"

"What is it?!" The Doctor shouted. "Hypnotism? Mind control? You're grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?"

"Oh, that's way too easy." The Master replied. Unnoticed by both Gallifreyans, Wilf was having a frantic conversation on his phone while Rose motioned for Rossiter to open their side of the cubicle. "No, no, no. They're not going to think like me!" Quickly, Rossiter reached the glass and entered the one side, pressing the release button and opening the door before Wilf and Rose.

"Stay here," she whispered to the old man as she slinked out. Behind her, Wilfred pushed the button, letting Rossiter out of his side. The cactus like man shifted back to where he was standing moments before while Rose silently moved towards the Gate.

"They're going to become me! And- wait! Why aren't you changing?" The Master exclaimed, his head whipping to look at Rose. She stood rooted to the spot as both men turned to look at her (and by both men, she realized startlingly, it was the Doctor and about thirty Masters).

"You're human!" The Master that was once Naismith shouted. They all eyed her suspiciously while the Doctor looked at her in concern.

"Or maybe you're not..." Said the head security guard Master. He came up close to her and examined her closely. Stopping in front of her face, he leaned in and stared at her eyes. Rose felt a growl threatening to make its way out of her chest but held it back as best she could. A little noise still escaped her, sounding more like a muted hiss. The guard-Master took a step back and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Naismith-Master, his daughter-Master, and two scientist-Masters surrounded Rose. Before he could blink she was being picked up and dragged across the room, shouting all the while.

"ROSE!" The Doctor hollered but was quickly silenced by the butt of a guard's gun. He fell painfully to the floor, looking up at the once human and scowling at the Master's face.

"Doctor!" He heard Wilf shout from inside the glass cubicle. He whipped his head around, forcing himself to ignore Rose for the time being. "She's starting to remember!" The Doctor groaned in frustration and made a move to get up and help the old man, but once again the guard-Master stopped him. "Doctor!" Wilf cried.

"Doctor!" Rose cried frantically from near the Gate.

"Doctor, Doctor, Doctor!" The Master imitated cruelly as the said man looked frantically back and forth between his two friends.

"_Doctor_!"

* * *

**(A/N): Hi everyone! Sorry for this chapter being so short... This chapter was extremely difficult for me to write but I didn't want to leave you waiting another week after last week's cliffhanger. I'm still not entirely happy with it; I ranted to my poor beautiful Beta reader about it for a while, but she assures me that it is acceptable, so I hope you agree!  
**

**Please feel free to drop a review and let me know what you're thinking. Love it? Hate it? I'd love to know! **

**Until next time, **

**~JL**


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